


This Is The Case That Never Ends

by litra



Category: For the People (TV 2018)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Groundhog Day (1993) Fusion, Case Fic, Friendship, Gen, Unwilling Allies
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-11-18
Updated: 2018-11-18
Packaged: 2019-08-25 04:16:05
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 10,791
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16654081
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/litra/pseuds/litra
Summary: Sandra finds herself repeating the same day over and over. Finding out why and how to stop it will take more than she bargained for.





	This Is The Case That Never Ends

Sandra woke up as early as ever. 

Sandra checked her email as soon as she got into the office. It was what she did every day and today she was on duty on top of it. There were a few follow up emails about old cases, legal questions and various junk mail. She sorted it by priority and then went to get coffee on the corner. There was coffee in the office but it was the instant stuff and she needed at least two shots of espresso to really get going in the morning.

By the time she'd braved the lines at Starbucks, handed a dollar to the guy on the corner and ducked back into the office, the place was filling up. She said her hellos, to Jay and Jill before Allison waved her down.

"Hey, Lunch?"

"Sure," Sandra said with a smile. She and Allison had both been so busy that  They hadn't had a chance to just sit and be friends in the past week or two. They needed to reconnect. 

Then Sandra opened her laptop and saw the new email. It was from the court office and had been forwarded from the on Duty account. She skimmed to the bottom for the details and time. The client was Mr. Cripe, 29 years old, accused of stealing confidential information from a government contractor. The hearing was in 40 minutes. 

Sandra stood, tucked her laptop into her back and headed for the door. It took 10 minutes to get to the courthouse. With luck her client would be there early as well and she'd get to ask him a few questions.

 

*

 

Mr. Sam Cripe looked like he was still in high school. He had a really bad haircut and his hears stuck out on the sides of his head. It didn't help that he kept shaking his head no, making them flap like he was dumbo. 

"I didn't steal anything. I didn't even read them."

"It's okay Mr. Cripe. I'm going to do everything I can to help you." she said, leaning forward and patting his hand. They were both whispering even though the courtroom was still empty. Sandra would have prefered to get the story in a private room, but she was getting used to the fact that public defenders got the short end of the stick on just about everything. 

"Now, I believe you but depending on the evidence it may be better to accept a plea deal rather then take this to court."

"What?" He was still shaking his head, but it seemed to be confusion rather then denial. Sandra had seen it before. She tried to walk him though it, laying out the steps of every court case. When Leonard Knox walked in she realized they were out of time. She patted his hand and offered a smile, before putting on her professional mask.

"Mr. Knox."

"Miss Bell."

They glanced at each other, then turned and stared ahead at the judges bench, both stiff-backed with jaws set. They hadn't faced each other in court since... well  it was clear neither of them were forgiving or forgetting anything even if the professional setting required civility.

"All rise, the honorable Judge Augustine prosiding," the clerk announced. 

Sandra frowned slightly as the judge sat and motioned for all of them to do the same. She thought she knew all the judges in the district but she didn't recognise Judge Augustine. The woman had wiry silver hair that was escaping a bun at the back of her neck. Her makeup bleached her face even as her dark lipstick drew a bar across her face.

The Judge opened the file in front of her. "The state of New York is bringing three counts of theft, and one count of perjury against Mr. Cripe is that correct?"

"That is correct your honor." Leonard said even as Sandra stood--

"Your honor, there is no evidence of one count of theft let alone three and it is my belief that the state is trumping up this perjury charge in order to frighten and harass my client." Her words came out sharp, clipped and just this side of furious. 

"No evidence? Your honor I assure you the State of New York has a full and through case lined up against Mr. Cripe." Leonard's tone had an edge to it.

The Judge banged her gavil once firmly before Sandra could retort. "Enough. I don't know what history the two of you have, but it's clearly not about this case. I expect you two to work it out and report back to the court with a proper attitude and handle on this case." She banged the gavel again. "Dismissed."

Sandra deliberately took a slow and deep breath as Leonard packed up his case file and turned away without looking at her. Mr Cripe touched her arm.

"Is this...?"

"Don't worry. This was just a primary appointment to state the intent. I'm going to look over all the evidence and we'll move forward from there."

Mr. Cripe nodded slowly. His eyes darted after Leonard, then back to her. "Yeah, okay."

 

*

 

Sandra got back to her office in time to send off a few emails. Then Allison poked her head in her door and smiled.

"Lunch?"

"Oh thank god yes," Sandra answered in a single breath.

Allison waited until they were out of the building, heading for their usual sandwich shop before asking, "New case that bad?"

"Yes... No, not really. It's just, Leonard Knox!" Sandra runs her hands over her face, tugging at a strand of hair.

They make it to the sandwich shop, and Allison put her arm around her friend as they waited in line.

"I know he's a pain, but you can totally do this."

They took a step forward.

"I know," Sandra moaned, "I just can't stop thinking about last time. Even the judge noticed. I'm so embarrassed."

They stepped forward again.

"Which judge?" Allison asked.

"Judge Augustine."

"Hmm I don't know them. They must be new."

Sandra nodded as they stepped up to the counter. "I can't believe this was the first impression they had of me." Sandra made a horrified face as she turned to put in her order.

Allison followed suit, waiting until they had their sandwiches before continuing. "You'll just have to impress her with the rest of the case. Have you got the discovery yet?"

"It's coming in this afternoon." Sandra said. They turned crossing the street, heading for their favorite bench.

"Any deals on the table?"

"That's the worst part, I don't know. I was so angry and frustrated that I couldn't even approach him about it." She slumped onto a bench and ran a hand through her hair before starting to unwrap her sandwich.

Allison sat down next to her, humming slightly. "I'm sure it's not as bad as you think. You haven't even seen the discovery yet."

Sandra shoved her sandwich in her mouth, and chewed sullenly. "Yeah, maybe."

Allison smailed, "You know it. You can totally win this."

Sandra swallowed, "Yeah. Right. You're totally right. I can do this." She took a deep breath.  "sorry I'm making this all about me aren't I. You're the one who wanted to get lunch, what did you want to talk about?"

Allison shook her head, "it's nothing. I'll tell you later." She glanced at her watch, "besides, we need to get back."

Sandra let herself get dragged back to the office. The discovery arrived at the same time they did, and she directed the boxes to her office. It was her only case for the moment so she was able to spread out, ignoring the chaos in the main area as Jay wailed to Jill.

 

*

 

It took hours, but eventually she found it. She found the key to the case. Her client hadn't committed perjury because he hadn't been aware he was stealing. He'd been completely truthful to the best of his knowledge. He had been used, a mule to get the information out of the building. The fact that he'd been caught with the information before the real thief had been able to take it from him was the only reason he was here. The state might have argued intent, and knowledge but that wasn't what he was being charged with. One trip to the prosecutor's office and this case would be dismissed. 

Sandra glanced at the clock and huffed out a breath. It was almost 11. Going to the prosecutor would have to wait until morning. She looked around her office at the piles of paper and stacked boxes, then shrugged and grabbed her purse. once the case was dismissed all the files would be taken away. No need to worry about them tonight.

When she got back to the apartment the lights were off. Allison had probably told her she was going home. When Sandra was in a zone it took a lot to get her attention, and discovery research was no exception. She kicked off her heels, poured herself a glass of water and went to wash off her makeup and brush her teeth before bed.

 

*

 

Sandra woke up as early as ever. 

Despite the late night she headed into the office. She was determined to get the case dismissed, and if that meant waking Leonard Knox up at the crack of dawn, all the better. 

Then she stepped into her office.

The discovery was gone. Her office was empty. She stared at her (mostly) empty desk. She looked under the desk. Under the chair. Behind the door. It was gone. She checked Allison's office, Jay's office, she was even desperate enough to peak into Jill's office, but her discovery was nowhere to be found.

She stood in the middle of the office, fists clenched at her sides. She had no idea what had happened. There was no one in the office who would do this to her. Jay wandered in, a breakfast burrito in one hand. Sandra stormed past him, snatching her purse as she headed to the prosecutor's office. 

 

*

 

"Where is he?"

Kate glanced up at Sandra, then back to her paperwork. "Who?"

"Knox."

"Courthouse."

Sandra clenched her teeth. "When will he be back?"

"He didn't say."

He was probably going directly to the judge after stealing her discovery. Well, she would just have to go after him. She turned and marched out of the office. Slamming the button for the elevator wasn't nearly as satisfying as she would have liked. 

Marching into the courthouse was just as unsatisfying when Tina gave her a look.

"Where is Leonard Knox?" Sandra asked without pausing.

"He just left," she said, looking down her nose.

"Of course he is," Sandra threw up her hands and headed for the door. 

She wasn't even halfway down the block when she got a text, from Jill. My office. Now.

Dear god this was not her day. She changed direction, heading not towards her own office rather than the enemy. It was lunch by the time she got back. Allison gave her a wide eyed look as she slipped out past her. 

She took a breath, trying to center herself before she stepped into Jill's office.

Jill glanced up at her, leaned back and crossed her arms. "Sandra. Would you like to explain yourself?"

Sandra took a breath, "I've been trying to track down Leonard Knox, and..."

Jill held up a hand, "I don't care. I don't care what he did. I only care what you did, and what you did was not show up."

Sandra, held her piece and nodded.

Jill came around the desk, and sat on the edge, "It would be one thing if you were sick, or had in any way communicated to me that you would be out of the office this morning, but to just not show up when you were On Duty, is not only unprofessional, it left your client without representation. You were lucky that this was just an initial meeting. If this had been anything more then that I would be doing more then benching you right now."

"Benching me?" Sandra asked, her throat closing up.

"Yes, you will be doing research for the other attorneys in this office until further notice." 

Sandra couldn't say anything. She didn't understand, but she knew Jill well enough to know that fighting would only end up with another lecture, and there would be no reprieve either way. Right now she had to just focus on not falling apart or blowing up.

A wail came from out in the main room, and Jill hissed a breath out through her teeth. She gave Sandra a pointed look and marched past her. Sandra followed as meekly as she knew how.

Jay was leaning against the big conference table, his head in his hands. 

"Jay," Jill snapped, trying to get his attention. "Talk to me!"

"I-- I don't know what to do? I-- my client got arrested? He asked for me as his lawyer. What do I do?"

"Jay, you are his lawyer," Jill said, hands on his shoulders.

"Not for this. It's a completely new charge! I'm supposed to be defending him on a gang violence case. This was drunk and disorderly, and maybe public exposure. I kind of wasn't listening by that point. The point is that I can't do this!"

"Jay! Jay you can do this! Listen to me. You are going to go down there and ask what he's being charged with, and tell him not to say anything. Do you understand?"

Jay swallowed. His eyes were wide and it took a moment before he could get ahold of himself. 

"Okay, okay, yeah, I-- I'll do that. I can do that."

"Yes you can. This is a new case. Just look at it as a completely new situation. Trust me this is not the worst thing you will have to deal with. If you need to just stall." Jill said nodding.

"New case, right." He took a deep breath. "Stall. Right." Jay ran a hand over his face. 

Jill took a half step back and turned becoming to Sandra. "Since you don't have a case, you're going to help. Pack up Jay's case and go through it for anything that might be affected by this new development."

Sandra nodded. At least she had a task now. She'd never done well when at loose ends. 

Jill was still talking, "Jay, you're going to go down the the police station as fast as you can. You can't let him say anything. Do you understand?"

Jay nodded, "yes. I won't let him say anything."

"Good, and make sure they read him his rights." Jill turned him around and gave him a nudge towards the door. Jay went off at a fast march. Sandra turned to Jay's office and sank into his spare chair.

Allison knocked lightly on the doorframe a few minutes later. "Hey, you okay?"

Sandra shrugged, nodded, then shook her head. "I messed up. I don't even know what happened."

Allison came in and shut the door behind her. "I was a bit worried when you weren't here this morning but I figured you were at the courthouse."

"I was, sort of. I was trying to find Leonard Knox. All my discovery disappeared this morning.  No one else would have taken it, and after yesterday... The worst part was that I'd actually found a way to get my client off. I was sure I could get the whole case thrown out." Sandra slumped letting her head fall into her hands.

Allison pulled over the other chair to sit beside her and put an arm around her shoulders. "I'm sorry, that sucks. I didn't even know you had any active cases against Leonard." 

Sandra glanced up at her, "The Cripe case, I told you about it."

Allison started to shake her head then shrugged. She glanced at her watch and whinced, "look I've got to go but we can totally talk about this later right?"

"Ah, sure, yeah." Sandra ran a hand over her face again. Allison gave her a thumbs up, and headed out. She shook off the edge of confusion and started piecing through Jay's case files.

 

*

 

Jay returned two hours later a lot calmer and carrying takeout.

"Apology food?" He offered, "I really didn't mean to freak out in the middle of the office like that."

Sandra waved him off, "You're not the only one having a bad day. How did it go?"

"Intense, stressful, but I got through it. Got my client out of there." He shrugged and opened his coke. "I guess I never thought something like that would actually happen to me. Someone calling from the police station. That's, like, a rich person thing."

"And now a you thing." Sandre said with a smile she hoped looked encouraging.

"Crazy right?" Jay let out a breath, "Okay, so what about you? You find anything?"

She held up a hand and tilted it back and fourth, "maybe. It depends on what exactly he's being charged with and who he was fighting with." She looked over her notes, flipping through a few pages to confirm they actually made sense before handing them over. She tucked into her food, answering questions when he posed them.

They weren't a bad team and she ended up heading home at an almost reasonable hour, with a plan to meet up with Jay and the client the next mourning.

*

The apartment was silent and dark when she got back. Sandra checked her watch as she came through the door, Allison had left the office hours ago. Whatever errand she'd had should have been over with ages ago.

"Allison?" Sandra called out, but it echoed back through the empty apartment. She checked her phone but there were no texts, good or bad.

Sandra took a breath. Allison could take care of herself. It was just a stressful day getting the better of her. She kicked off her shoes and went to take a hot shower and relax a bit before dropping into bed.

*

Sandra woke up as early as ever. 

She headed into the office determined to have a better day then yesterday. Jay wasn't there yet and there were still a few hours until they were going to meet with the client in any case. She checked her email and froze.

There was the normal collection of emails about old cases, junk mail and so on, but the one at the top had been forwarded from the on Duty account. A new case. Except she had been benched, hadn't she?

Sandra poked her head out of her office and looked up at the white board. It was her name at the top, next to the on Duty roster. Jill put a new name up at the end of the day. She must have changed her mind. She was giving Sandra a second chance!

Sandra scrawled a quick note to Jay, grabbed her bag and ran for the court house without even reading the email all the way through. She was going to get it right this time. She wasn't going to ruin this chance.

She scanned the email on the phone, looking for the courtroom number even though she was really early. When she opened the door to courtroom 4 she saw the back of a vaguely familiar head, sitting on the defense side of the room. Otherwise the room was empty. She tried to place the figure as she shut the door behind her. Then he turned and Sandra did a double take.

It was Mr. Cripe. He was wearing the same cheep suit as he'd worn for the initial hearing. 

Had she been mistaken? Sandra had thought this was a new on duty case. Was it a follow up instead? was that why she'd gotten the email. It would be a different kind of second chance but then again, she did already have a handle on the details. She pasted on a smile as she stepped forward.

"Mr. Cripe. Good morning."

He stood shakally, and glanced from her to the door. "Umm, Hello--"

She took in his confusion and waved a hand. "Don't worry about any confusion yesterday. I'm still defending you and I think I've found some good evidence to get your case dismissed."

He blinked, "You're my lawyer? You have?"

She didn't have the evidence of course, since Leonard had stolen it, but she knew what she'd found. "Yes, I just need to put together the evidence. Could you confirm a few things for me before the hearing?"

He nodded and they sat down at the defence table, Sandra pulling out a notepad and pen.

When Leonard Knox entered Sandra waved Mr. Cripe silent.

"Miss Bell."

Sandra clenched her jaw and refused to be baited. He could play at civility all he wanted. She knew the truth. Instead she turned and faced the bench, head held high and the judge was announced.

"All rise, the honorable Judge Augustine prosiding."

The Judge opened the file in front of her. "The state of New York is bringing three counts of theft, and one count of perjury against Mr. Cripe is that correct?"

"That is correct--." Leonard said.

"Your honor," Sandra interrupted, "This case has been handled with despicable carelessness, if not outright maliciousness against my client. The accusations against Mr. Cripe are unfounded and once I have the discovery--" she glared at Knox-- "I can prove it."

"Your honor, the state of New York--" Leonard started before the judge banged her gavil.

"Enough. I will have the court set a date for the hearing since you two are obviously not able to work out a solution. I expect the two of you to show some more civility when you next enter my courtroom." She banged the gavel again. "Dismissed."

Sandra clenched her fists. glaring at Leonard as he adjusted the cuffs of his suit and glared back. Once the judge had left they both turned away without a word.

 

*

 

Allison caught her running a hand through her hair a few hours later and asked, "Lunch?"

Sandra nodded and picked up her bag without a word.

Allison waited until they were out of the building, heading for their usual sandwich shop before asking, "New case that bad?"

"No, well, yes, but it's not that, or not only that. It's complicated."

Allison bumped their shoulders together, "So tell me about it."

"I just..." Sandra took a deep breath, and puffed out her cheeks. "I woke up this morning and well after yesterday, I just wanted things to go back to normal, you know?"

Allison nodded slowly, "I guess I know how that feels."

"And then at the hearing this morning, it was like everyone really was pretending nothing had happened. And I mean I knew Leonard wouldn't admit to stealing my discovery, but even my client was acting kind of... off? I mean it's stressful I get that. No one is at their best. But then Judge Augustine was all angry again and--" Sandra lifted her hands and let them fall.

"Judge Augustine? Hmm I don't know them. They must be new."

Sandra gave her friend a wide eyed look, "And that! That right there. I told you about my terrible run in with Judge Augustine two days ago. Everyone is doing things like that. Little things. I wouldn't think anything of it except it's everyone I've talked to. I went in to ask Jay how his client was doing after he got arrested yesterday and Jay freaked out like he didn't know it had happened, despite the fact that Jill had to calm him down in the middle of the the conference room. And Jill hasn't said anything about benching me--"

"Wait you got benched?" Allison interrupted, "Since when?"

"Since I messed up yesterday?"

They stopped in the middle of the sidewalk. Allison was frowning. Eventually she shook her head.

"I don't remember anything going wrong yesterday. I think you need to start at the beginning." 

Sandra started talking. She outlined the last few days as they finally made it to the sandwich shop, ordered and headed towards their usual bench. It took a while. Sandra kept going down tangents, trying to figure out if what she remembered was an actual memory or just the emotions, or worse: something that had happened more than a few days ago and had gotten caught up in some kind of dream or something. 

In the end they settled on a few facts. 

Sandra had a case defending Mr. Cripe  
Sandra knew more about the case then she should without seeing the discovery. This was backed up by her notes from talking to Mr. Cripe before the hearing that morning.  
Allison didn't remember Sandra getting benched, or Jay freaking out about his client.  
"You know what this sounds like right?" Allison asked.Sandra bit her lip. Allison gave her a pointed look. 

Sandra sighed, "I am not stuck in some kind of groundhog day."

"It sounds like you are."

"That kind of thing doesn't happen in real life!" Sandra threw up her hands. "Besides,  How would it even happen? Why now? What triggered it?"

Allison took a bite of her sandwich and considered. "I don't know," She eventually answered. "The good news is that no one remembers you screwing up in the not-yesterday. And if it holds steady than, you'll have plenty of time to figure out what's going on."

Sandra rolled her eyes.

"Look, you have a way to figure out if it's real or not..."

Sandra crumpled up her sandwich wrapper. "The discovery? I guess it would prove something if the evidence is there. Though it might just prove I'm psychic rather then stuck in a time loop."

Allison bumped their shoulders together, "Well if you do end up being psychic, try to zero in on the lottery numbers next time," she said with a smile.

They headed back to the office talking about the movies they'd seen with similar plots and laughing about the impossibility of it all. The discovery arrived ten minutes after they did, and Sandra got to work, spreading it out and looking for the security logs thathad keyed her in last time.

She blinked and Allison was at her door. Sandra glanced at her watch and shook her head, coming out of the research stupor she'd fallen into.

"I haven't found it yet. I know it's here somewhere but it was really late--"

Allison waved her off. "It's not that. I thought you might want to see this." She nodded to the main conference space.

Jay was leaning against the big conference table, his head in his hands. 

"Jay," Jill snapped, trying to get his attention. "Talk to me!"

"I-- I don't know what to do? I-- my client got arrested? He asked for me as his lawyer. What do I do?"

"Jay, you are his lawyer," Jill said, hands on his shoulders.

Half the office had poked their heads out of their offices. Most of them looked sympathetic, others pitying.

Sandra leaned in close to Allison and whispered to her, "Jill's going to tell him to go down to the police station, and advise his client not to say anything, and if all else fails, to stall."

Allison hummed her understanding.

"Jay, you're going to go down the the police station as fast as you can. You can't let him say anything. Do you understand?" Jill said a minute or so later.

Jay nodded, "yes. I won't let him say anything."

"Good, and make sure they read him his rights." Jay managed to stand and stiffly headed for the door.

Sandra and Allison slipped back into Sandra's office, shutting the door behind them.

"It wasn't exactly the same," Sandra said biting her lip. Her eyes danced over the papers on her desk. She hadn't found the exact page, but so much of it was familiar that she'd already gone through over half the boxes.

"Well, you weren't a part of it this time. It still happened, and well... There's no way you could have known about it." Allison smiled, "Not unless you've got a police scanned hidden in your purse. Or we could go back to the psychic theory."

Sandra shook her head. "I don't know, at this point I'd almost be grateful if that was the case." 

Allison took a breath, then stopped as her phone beeped. "Ah, I've got to go. Are you going to be okay?"

Sandra waved her off. "Go. Do whatever you have to do. I'm going to go through the rest of these. I'll see you tonight."

Allison waved as she shut the door behind her. 

Sandra took a breath and looked around at the rest of the boxes. If she really was stuck in a loop she had no idea what she was going to do about it. 

She found what she was looking for a few hours later, and sent off a pointed email to the Prosecutor's office. It was late enough that she knew she wasn't going to get a response, but early enough that she felt slightly off when heading home. Allison either hadn't returned to the office, or Sandra had missed her coming and going.

She called out as she kicked off her shoes, but no one answered. That was odd. Now that she actually thought about it Alison hadn't been home the last few days, which if her theory held up, was actually the same day. She wasn't sure if that made it better or worse. Sandra checked the fridge and decided to make one of those meal from a box things.

Allison never came home. Eventually Sandra went to bed. By that point she was almost hoping the day would reset. If it did Allison would definitely be alright.

 

*

 

Sandra woke up as early as ever. 

She headed into the office and checked her email. Her name was up on the On Duty board despite the fact that she'd seen Jill change it the night before. She took care of the few urgent emails, and waited. She considered getting coffee, but dismissed the idea almost immediately. She was keyed up enough already. 

The email arrived. She noted the time and read it through slowly and carefully. Her client was Mr. Cripe. He was being accused of three counts of theft. The first two were of intellectual property, while the third was of private government records. He was also being accused of perjury, in that he had lied under oath saying he had no knowledge of the theft during the initial trial against his parent company.

Sandra knew it was bullshit. His computer, including his remote access to the company servers had been stolen. He'd reported the theft the week before the files had been copied. Someone might have been using his access and he might know who that person was, but he might not. That wasn't what had to be proven.

She arrived early, but not as early as she had in the other versions of this day. After all she didn't need to ask Mr. Cripe any questions. She still introduced herself and assured him that she would do her best to get the case dismissed.

Then Leonard stepped into the room. "Miss Bell."

"Leonard Knox." She said, a sneer in her tone. After all if the day was just going to reset, there wasn't any harm in venting a little.  "Come to ruin another innocent life?"

He scowled, "You know what? I've had just about enough of this. You need to learn some respect, or at least a little professionalism. You going to fall apart when you lose this case too?"

Someone cleared their throat in the background.

"Have you even looked at the case? No of course not. I bet you just got handed a file never mind the real person whose name is at the top."

"Oh, and what about the couple thousand people who's medical information was sold to who knows who for who knows what reason? You think they don't deserve a little justice?" Leonard snarled.

"Order!" The gavil came down hard once, twice, and they broke off to look up at where the judge was standing behind the bench. "One more word out of either of you and I'll hold both of you in contempt of court!"

Sandra swallowed behind clenched teeth.

"You both need to take a step back, if you can't then I will insist that this case be handed over to someone who can be professional and respectful in my courtroom. Is that understood?"

Sandra nodded and saw Leonard doing the same.

"Fine. I'm going to reschedule this hearing for a day when everyone has had a chance to cool down. Dismissed." The judge banged her gavil again and turned to leave the way she'd come in. 

Sandra closed her eyes, letting her head fall back and took a slow breath.

"Umm," Mr. Cripe started.

"I'm sorry about that." Sandra said, trying to look as if she meant it. "Mr. Knox and I have a bit of a history. I promise that won't stop me from doing everything I can for you."

"Okay," He didn't sound too sure about it but he nodded.

Sandra escorted him out of the building and headed back to the office. The same case, the same judge, the same details. She really was in a time loop. She had no idea what she was supposed to do to get out of the loop, or even what had stuck her in it in the first place. One thing was sure, out of all the days she could get stuck in, one where she faced Leonard Knox wasn't one of the better options. At least if it was an actual court case she might have been able to figure out what to say to win or something. This was all they annoyance without any chance to see it through to the end.

She was going to go crazy if she didn't figure it out. And figuring it out might just make her go crazy in the process.

She stopped for coffee on the way back, just for a change of pace and nearly ran into Jay on the way back. The events of a few hours from now flashed through her mind and she caught his elbow.

"Have you checked in with your client today?"

"No?" He glanced around as if it was a trick question.

"I think you should do that, just a hunch." She slipped past him and he fumbled for his phone.

Sandra didn't bother with the rest of her emails, she already knew what all of them would say. The discovery wouldn't be delivered until after lunch... As far as she knew not much would happen for the next few hours. There was lunch with Allison, then the discovery would show up and Jay would freak out. Or maybe he wouldn't if her heads up had come in time... It wasn't like today was particularly important...

Unless it was and she hadn't realized it.

Sandra pulled up the calendar on her computer and stared at the date. It wasn't a birthday, she was fairly sure of that. It could be some kind of anniversary... She wracked her brain for a while but ended up coming up blank. Which left a third option she didn't particularly like. It could be that something was going to happen before the end of the day that she needed to prevent. If that was the case, she'd have to figure out what it was before she could move forward because as far as she could tell this was just another day...

Allison poked her head through Sandra's door and said, "Lunch?"

Sandra looked up at her friend and a light dawned. Allison hadn't been home the past few nights, or the past versions of this night. Had she gotten hurt? Had something happened and Sandra had never realized because she'd been so caught up in her own mess?

"Yes," She said, and grabbed her bag. Sandra bumped their shoulders together as Allison got the door.  "So, what's been up with you?"

Allison gave her a look, "What do you mean?"

"Nothing, it's just... We haven't talked in a while, you know."

"Okay we had lunch two days ago. Spill. What's wrong?" Allison's face fell, "Is it your new case? I heard things went bad in court today."

"What? No." Sandra waved her hand trying to brush her off. Allison just put a hand on her hip. "Okay, it wasn't the best. Leonard Knox is an ass. But I'm not dwelling on it. I'm looking forward, and I'm supporting my friend. So--" Sandra waved a hand at the sandwich shop-- "Lunch."

Allison squeezed Sandra's hand as they stood in line. "You know you can tell me if anything was wrong, right?"

Sandra slumped a little. "Okay, yeah. There's this thing, but I'm still figuring it out okay? God how do you always see through me?"

"Because I've known you for years?" Allison smiled and put in her order. "So Leonard?"

Sandra let out a sound that crossed a growl with a moan, and bit into her sandwich. They'd reached their bench by that point.

"That bad?"

"He's going to get his as soon as I turn in my research." Sandra waved it aside. "Seriously, please distract me." Sandra slumped over letting her head fall onto Allison's shoulder.

"Well if you really need a distraction there's a guy I know..." She trailed off raising her eyebrows suggestively.

"Oh my god you're terrible. I'd hit you with this sandwich if it wouldn't be such a waste."

Nothing she tried worked. Any time she got close, Allison would dodge the question or ask if she was okay again. By the end of lunch Sandra would have been ready to give up if she was anyone else. Instead it just made her all the more determined. She was going to find out what her friend was hiding. 

They walked for half a dozen blocks before Allison turned and buzzed into an apartment building. Sandra bit her lip as she crossed the street. She wasn't sure if she'd be able to get in, but once again she didn't have much to lose by being rude. Sandra started hitting buttons at random, and it only took a few minutes before the door clicked open. 

She rushed to the elevator, and watched the numbers tick up. It was a six or seven story building, the elevator stopped on the fourth floor. Rather than waiting for the elevator Sandra dove for the stairs. She raised up four flights, and pushed open the door in time to see Allison down the hallway. 

Allison was holding out her arms to hug someone, a man. He had dark hair and as they pulled back Sandra gasped. Between the door slamming behind her and the sound they both turned and stared at her in shock.

"Toby!"

"Sandra!"

"Allison!"

"Oh my god!" Allison covered her eyes. 

Toby looked between her and Sandra, "Umm, if you want to talk, I can..." He gestured back into what had to be his apartment.

"What? No, Toby, don't worry. Sandra was just leaving!" Allison gave sandra a pointed look.

Sandra looked at Allison with a big eyed 'I can't believe you' look. Allison looked right back with an expression that said 'don't you dare'!

Sandra looked between Allison and Toby who was still hesitating in the doorway. "Just five minutes, please."

Toby looked almost grateful as he ducked back into the apartment. 

Allison took a breath and turned towards Sandra. "What are you doing here? Did you follow me?"

"No!" Sandra whinced and corrected her negerk reaction to "well, yes. I was worried about you. You didn't come home--" She bit off the end of the sentence before she could say 'last night' because it hadn't been last night. It would have been tonight, except staying over at a guy's place was a whole lot lett suspicious than anything she'd thought of. "Why didn't you tell me you two were dating?" She asked instead trying to steer the conversation in a safer direction.

Sure enough Allison blushed. "We're not. Well, not really? We haven't put a name to it or anything. It's just hooking up. It's no big deal."

"No big deal? I distinctly remember him being your client."

"Well he's not anymore!" Allison glaired. "Now was there something you needed?"

Sandra considered saying something about the time loop, but there really wasn't any point. the day was almost done. At least she'd solved one mystery.

"Nope, just maybe text next time you go out so I don't start to question my sanity when you don't come home?"

Allison rolled her eyes, but nodded. She waved a hand, gesturing for Sandra to get out of there. Sandra went.

 

*

 

Sandra woke up as early as ever. 

She lay in bed for a good five minutes, staring at the ceiling and wondering what to try next. In the TV shows they always did a montage about now. The main character figuring out all the little details of the day until they worked their way through all the different things that might have happened. Living through all those versions was a lot more tiring than it looked.

She made a mental lost of everything she'd noticed so far. Allison of course but she'd just solved that mystery. There was Jay's client getting arrested. That was something out of the ordinary. Then there was the case... YEah she was going to try helping Jay first. 

She got up and headed into the office just in time to get the email about Mr. Cripe's case. Today she didn't even bother looking at Leonard. She gave him the finger under the table and answered the Judge with sentences that were as short and precise as possible. By the end Leonard was looking at her like she was either insane or had something rude tattooed across her forehead. She picked up her back and pointedly escorted Mr. Cripe from the building.

Normally a case like this would have taken several days to get any momentum, so she felt no guilt about abandoning it in favor of marching into Jay's office. 

"Where's your client?"

Jay looked up from his computer, "What?"

"Your client, can you contact them?"

Jay glanced over his papers, "Umm, sure I have his contact info here somewhere, why?"

"You should call him, right now."

Jay blinked, "What?"

Sandra mentally cursed that she hadn't come up with a reason before she barged in. "I think he's in trouble."

Instead of picking up the phone, Jay focused in more on her. "What did you hear?"

Sandra considered giving up and going back to her office until she could get more into on what was going to go wrong later that day, but that felt like cheating. Instead she stepped through his door and closed it behind her.

"Okay, this is going to sound crazy and I can't prove it but I need you to just go with it okay?"

Jay hesitated, watching her with a calculating expression, then he nodded once firmly, "Okay, shoot."

"I'm stuck in a groundhog day style time loop and every afternoon you get a call saying that your client has been arrested. I haven't been through enough loops yet to know about your case but on the off chance you can catch it early, you should call him."

Jay stared at her for a several long minutes. finally he asked, "Time loop?"

"Yep?"

"Really?"

"Yeah."

He took a breath, "I don't actually believe you but I'm not going to risk it," he decided. 

She shrugged, 'good enough. Let me know how it goes." She left as he was shuffling through his papers trying to find the phone number.

Allison popped in for Lunch not long later. Sandra did not mention her case. She also did not mention the fact that she knew Allison was hooking up with Toby. Allison gave her looks like she was acting weird the whole time.

The afternoon was boring. With the head's up Jay didn't freak out and she already had the case under control. She ended up leaving early for once, and it left her feeling strange all evening.

 

*

 

Sandra woke up as early as ever. 

Clearly if it was Jay's client, she'd need to give it a more personal touch. She finished up with her emails and headed towards the courthouse as she got the email about her case.  Today she barely noticed when Leonard walked it. He was at the very bottom of her list right now. Thankfully he either thought the same or was simply keeping to himself, because he didn't even say hello.

Sandra caught Jay as she was heading back to the office. He had coffee in one hand and a case file in the other. She followed him right into his office and shut the door. 

Jay looked up, "You can't use my desk to organize your new case."

She waved that off, "That's not what I need. I need to know about your case."

"Why?" 

"I'm in a time loop, and I'm trying to figure out what's going wrong. I know you get a call about your client getting arrested this afternoon but I don't know why that's such a bad thing-- other than the obvious."

Jay squinted at her, "Is this some kind of prank? Or a dare? Get someone else to break the rules?"

Sandra slumped, this approach had worked yesterday, why not now? "No, I'm serious."

"Can you prove it? Like, what number am I thinking of?"

"I have no idea."

He slowly shook his head, growing more forceful as he went, "No sorry. You don't need to see my files." 

Sandra clenched her fists on his desk. She counted to three. She tried to think of another angle, but really after the time loop thing, whatever she said would sound like a lie.

"Fine, talk to me this afternoon after you go bail out your client." She turns and has a hand on he door before she has an idea. Jay sputtered a few questions as she came around his desk. He had his email up, not looking at any one in particular, just the subject list. She snapped a picture of it with her phone.

"For tomorrow," She said before he could protest, and left. 

She memorized the subjects and times as she and Allison got lunch, mexican today, she was tired of sandwiches. Luckily Allison wasn't hard to convince.  

Jay didn't have time to talk to her in the afternoon, he was to busy dealing with whatever mess his client had created.

 

*

 

Sandra woke up as early as ever. 

She checked all the boxes for the morning hearing, and marched into Jay's office, shutting the door behind her.

"Your client is going to get arrested later today. I know this because I am stuck in a time loop and I can prove it."

Jay blinked, "O-kay?"

"Open your email."

Jay glanced at his screen, he nudged the screen, making sure she couldn't see it. "Ah, which one?"

"Just the subjects," Sandra closed her eyes and took a breath, then started reciting the list. When she finished Jay was staring at her.

"Did you hack my email somehow?"

She shook her head. "Time loop, like I said. The next email will come in in two minutes, the subject will be: NYCU circular newsletter."

They both sat in silence for two minutes before the email popped up just as expected.

"Okay that's freaky." Everything she'd said seemed to click with Jay. "Wait, you said my client's going to get arrested?!"

Sandra nodded, "I don't know the details though. I was thinking you could call them, and I could back you up. The more I know the more info I'll have for you next time the loop resets.

Jay nodded and made the call.

He ended up talking to his client for just under an hour. The man had just found out his brother, who had been deployed overseas had died. Jay and Sandra talked him through it, and for once he didn't end up at the bar where he would have gotten picked up. By the time they hung up the phone, Sandra was exhausted, and both of them had missed lunch. 

"You want to get something to eat?" Jay asked, and she gladly took him up on the offer.

 

*

 

Sandra woke up as early as ever. 

She rolled out of bed, and slowly made her way to the office. In the past dozen or so loops she had called her foster parents, talked to Jill about baseball, hung out at the courthouse in case something went wrong there, helped Jay with his client two other times, and randomly asked out a guy who had smiled at her as they got coffee. Every time she woke up in her bed on the same day, facing the same problems. 

She was out of ideas. She still didn't know why the loop was happening or how to get out of it. She'd stalled out. She was out of leads. She didn't want to give up but if something didn't change... 

Yesterday she'd started looking at flights, trying to see if she could get to London or Paris before the loop reset. Would it reset if she fell asleep on the plane? Did it even matter?

She took her seat next to Mr. Cripe, and nodded as Leonard came in. "Leonard," she nodded to him.

He hesitated, looking at her with narrowed eyes, "Miss Bell."

Sandra turned and stood as the judge walked in.

The Judge opened the file in front of her. "The state of New York is bringing three counts of theft, and one count of perjury against Mr. Cripe is that correct?"

"That is correct your honor." Leonard said.

Both the judge and Leonard glanced at her. It was true that in the past versions of this day she had basically always said something here or at least given a snort or an eye roll. 

"It is my belief that there isn't enough evidence to prove a conviction. We will be moving to dismiss all charges."

The Judge looked between the two lawyers, "Then I'll expect to see some kind of plea deal on the table soon." She closed the file and stood. "Dismissed."

Sandra started gathering her papers, waiting for Leonard to exit. Except he didn't. He was watching her with narrowed eyes. Sandra ignored him turning to her client. 

"I'll be in touch about any progress. just leave everything to me." Mr. Cripe nodded hesitantly and started for the door. Sandra followed. 

Leonard caught her elbow as they stepped into the hallway. "The second day, you skipped."

Sandra pulled her arm free and glared at him as she tucked her hair behind her ear. "What?"

"I wasn't watching for it then, because I hadn't realized, but you didn't show up. and a few loops ago you came to my office. You've never done that before." He was watching for her reaction.

Sandra's ear caught the word loop and she froze. "Groundhog day." She said softly. 

He nodded, "You've been looping too?"

Sandra licked her lip and nodded, "We should talk."

Leonard checked his watch and nodded. "The next event for me isn't until 12:30."

Sandra thought for a moment then turned and headed for the starbucks a block away. Leonard followed, watching her the whole while. They each ordered coffee and found a table in a corner by the bathrooms. 

Sandra took a breath, "I've tried everything. I've talked to all my friends and fixing their problems doesn't break the loop."

"Same here," Leonard said, "Although yelling at my mom was really cathartic."

"The case?"

"It's the only thing I haven't tried," Leonard agreed. He narrowed his eyes, "You're not going to attack me if I point out all the flaws in your case are you?"

Sandra wrinkled up her nose, "I'll restrain myself as long as you remember that there's a real person on the other side of this paperwork."

Leonard started to roll his eyes, then paused, "You don't think he's been repeating days too?"

Sandra considered, then shook her head. "He always looks about the same level of nervous. If he was repeated he'd know nothing as going to happen, or at least ask different questions."

Leonard nodded, "So the case..."

Sandra took a breath and started in on what she'd found in the discovery. By this point she didn't care if anyone heard the details. She was pretty certain they'd have to do all of it again tomorrow. Leonard nodded at key points. He'd apparently spent a few days going over the discovery himself.

"The laptop is a key factor in the case, but it really depends on if you can convince a jury that whoever stole the laptop did so with the plan of using the access to steel the files. I can easilly argue that Mr. Cripe was just forgetful and left his car unlocked and someone pawned it, or that it was never stolen and this was premeditated." Leonard leaned back in his chair and shrugged.

Sandra pointed a finger at him, "See, I don't think so. In order to pull off this kind of thing they'd have to know he had access in the first place. Mr. Cripe has no motive. None of his accounts have had any deposits."

"Unless he was paid in cash or had a new overseas account set up."

She waved him off, "My point is that if someone stole his laptop in order to get access they probably knew him."

Leonard took a drink, "We need more information. You check in with the friends and I'll track the money?"

Sandra nodded decisively, "I'll tell you what I find tomorrow."

Leonard pushed back his chair and shouldered his coat. "I'll see you then."

 

*

 

Sandra woke up as early as ever. 

She had learned a few things the day before and been stonewalled on a few more. She sent off a few emails and left a few voice messages before heading to the courthouse. For the first time in several loops, she arrived early.

"Mr. Cripe, I'm Sandra Bell, your attorney."

"I didn't steal anything. I didn't even read them." he babbled, gripping his hands together.

She nodded, "I believe you. Now after reviewing your case, the best chance we have is to prove that your laptop was stolen deliberately, and whoever did it used your access. I have a colleague looking into the money trail as well, can you tell me of anyone who knew you had access? People who knew you worked from home, or maybe you mentioned the project to someone?" She got out a pen and prepared to start copying down names.

He blinked at her, "Ah, okay, I umm-- well, my family knew..."

Sandra nodded as he spoke, occasionally asking for elaboration or contact information if he had it. She barely glanced up when Leonard walked in, only really stopping when the bailiff asked them to rise.

The hearing itself went the same as the day before and soon they were settled at their table in the starbucks.

"I talked to the cops and called up more pawn shops then I knew existed yesterday. As far as I can tell no one sold the laptop." Sandra opened.

Leonard nodded, "I did some extra digging into Mr. Cripe. There are no new accounts in any of his family members names, nothing overseas, and there haven't been any emergencies that would leave him needing money." 

All that had been implied by the discovery but it was nice to have the confirmation. 

Sandra slid over the list of names. "These are the people who knew Mr. Cripe had access. How fast can you do a financial check on them?"

Leonard scanned the list, "Assuming we don't have trouble with the warrants. I could get maybe a third of them done today, assuming their fairly standard."

Sandra nodded, "We also need to look into the company. It's possible someone from their tech department falsified their account info."

Leonard tipped his head to the side and gave her a look, "I take it you're going to look into that?"

"Well you've got access to a better team of finance people."

He shrugged, they both knew it was true. "Fine, I'll spend another day on finances." He took a picture of her list and they both headed back to their respective offices.

On her way in Sandra caught sight of Jay, "hey, You need to call your client."

He looked up from his coffee, "What? Why?"

She shrugged, "Got a voicemail saying something bad happened. He must have hit my extension by mistake."

Jay pulled out his phone and Sandra mentally checked that catastrophe off her list.

Sandra didn't have the discovery to dig into yet but she'd read it enough times to remember the name, address and phone number.  She sent off a request for a warrant and in the meantime did some internet digging. She came up with a mix of good and bad articles, reviews, PR. No immediate red flags or ongoing arguments with anyone.

When the warrant came in she made the appropriate calls and went in with a team. From there it was stop and go as the tech people pulled records and HR handed over files. Sandra did her best to take in as much as she could before the day reset. 

 

*

 

Sandra woke up as early as ever. 

Surprisingly she didn't feel tired, or not as tired as she should have been. She'd spent all night at the office reading through everything she could until the sky had started to lighten again. Then the world had gone gray at the edges, she'd blinked and found herself back in bed. At least now she knew she couldn't just stay awake to get more time. 

She went over everything she had crammed into her head as she walked to work. Unfortunately she didn't have anything to report other than people who could be crossed off the list. 

Her phone rang as she was picking up her coffee order, and she blinked down at Leonard Knox's name. "Hello?"

"I've got something," Leonard said without bothering with a greeting. "Someone from your list--  A man from his AA group -- He worked in I.T. up until a year ago and was about to loose his car until he suddenly has a windfall two weeks ago."

"Yes!" Sandra wanted to punch the air, except she had her coffee in her free hand. "We'll need a warrant to search for the laptop. I can head to the courthouse now."

"I'll see you there. we can ask for one at the hearing." Leonard hung up, without saying goodbye, but Sandra was too elated to notice. They had him. This might finally be the end of it, and even if it wasn't it was something new.

She introduced herself to Mr. Cripe as she always did, shaking his hand and assuring him that she would do everything she could for him. "I'm already familiar with your case." She went on. "In fact a colleague has managed to track down someone who may have stolen your laptop. Today may seem a bit unorthodox, but I need you to trust me, okay?"

He blinked a few times, but nodded. Leonard entered a minute later, he nodded as he pulled out a stack of papers. Sandra came over and he pointed out the lines of numbers where a large sum had been deposited in an account and then several smaller sums withdrawn. The timeline fit. 

"All rise, the honorable Judge Augustine prosiding," the balif called. 

Judge Augustine came in, settled herself, and opened the file in front of her. "The state of New York is bringing three counts of theft, and one count of perjury against Mr. Cripe is that correct?" She looked up at Leonard.

"Actually may we approach the bench?" Leonard asked.

"Please do counselors." 

Leonard glanced at Sandra, and she nodded. They both came up to the Judges bench.

"We've had a chance to go over the case and found some evidence that the prosecution should be targeting someone else."

Sandra picked up the thread when Leonard paused, "Mr Cripe had a laptop with the indicated information stollen shortly before the theft. We've found a man he spoke with who had some financial success around the same time."

"We would like to suspend the case against Mr. Cripe, assuming you can grant a warrant to search" Leonard paused to confirm the name, "Mr. Able Thompson's residence and holdings for evidence."

Judge Augustine, looked from one to the other of them, considering them for a long moment. "Warrant granted. I'm glad to see the two of you have managed to put aside your differences. The case is hereby suspended pending further investigation." She closed the file in front of her and stood.

Sandra took a breath and turned to smile at her client. Mr. Cripe was staring at her in awe. She gave him a nod, then turned to look at Leonard.

"Would you like to come along as they execute the warrant?"

Sandra considered the question, "No," She decided. She trusted him to make sure the job was done right. The realization surprised her. She'd never like Leonard Knox, but she respected him. He'd been the one to find the key to this case. He'd worked as hard as she had, despite the fact that they literally had all the time in the world. 

"Please contact me if you find anything."

He nodded, and headed out. Sandra took a breath, and followed him. She felt light, like her steps were barely touching the pavement. 

When she got back to the office, she let Jay know about his client. She agreed when Allison asked to have lunch. She ducked into Jill's office to update her on the case. 

"Wait, which Judge was this?" Jill asked when Sandra had finished telling her about that mourning's hearing.

"Judge Augustine?"

Jill scanned over Sandra with a glance, "And she wasn't upset?"

Sandra shrugged, trying to think of a way to tell Jill the truth without telling her the whole truth. "Well at first she wasn't very happy with how Leonard and I were disagreeing, but when we presented the details and asked for the warrant she said she was happy we were getting along?"

Jill let out a breath, "Alright, as long as everything's fine. Let me know if you have any updates."

Sandra nodded and went to lunch.

 

*

 

Sandra heard from Leonard late that afternoon. The police had found the laptop at Able Thompson's home and were officially dropping the case against Mr. Cripe in favor of pursuing a case against him. She thanked him for the information and promised to pass it along to her client.

 

*

 

Sandra woke up as early as ever. 

She rolled out of bed and headed into the office like she had every day for however many loops it had been. She opened her email to get the busy work out of the way before going to the hearing for Mr. Cripe. Except the emails she'd expected to see weren't there. Instead the first email in the list was from Judge Augustine. It was short and to the point informing her that the case against Mr. Cripe had officially been closed.

Sandra blinked at it.

She looked at the date in the corner of her screen. To confirm it, she stood and ducked her head out, to look at the board in the main room. Allison's name was up next to the On Duty notation. She pulled out her phone and checked her call history. The most recent call was to LEonard, the prior evening. She hit redial.

"Leonard Knox." He answered. He was breathing hard and there was the sound of a motor in the background.

"Leonard, it's Sandra. What day is it?"

"What? It's-- Oh fuck. It's Thursday. I hadn't even thought to check."

"Same. I got to work and my email's were all different."

"We did it." She could hear the smile in his voice.

"I guess we did." Sandra licked her lips. "I guess, It was a pleasure working with you Mr. Knox."

"Yes. Same, Miss Bell."

Sandra looked down at her phone, and quietly ended the call.

 

 

The end.


End file.
